The Best 27-Inch Monitor

After a new round of testing, the 4K HP Z27 is our new pick for the best 27-inch monitor.

After a new round of testing, the 4K HP Z27 is our new pick for the best 27-inch monitor.

If you don’t want (or can’t use) 4K, get the HP Z27n G2. And if you need a cheaper 4K monitor, we recommend the Acer KA270HK.

Your guide

Andrew Cunningham

Most people buying a 27-inch monitor should get the HP Z27. It’s color accurate, it has a 4K screen, it offers plenty of useful ports, and it can charge a USB-C laptop. 4K monitors no longer cost much more than good non-4K monitors, and they also look a lot better and work with most modern computers. But if you have an older computer that can’t use a 4K monitor, if you have apps that don’t scale well, or if you want to save (a little) money, HP’s Z27n G2 is your best option.

Buying Options

The HP Z27 has an ergonomic stand that you can adjust for height as well as tilt, swivel, and pivot, and HP’s three-year warranty and dead-pixel policy are about as good as you can get with any monitor. It also has a USB-C port that can carry the display signal, USB data, and up to 65 W of power over a single cable, more than enough to charge most 13- and 15-inch laptops; it’s a great option if you’re trying to eliminate cable clutter.

Buying Options

The 2560×1440 (QHD) resolution of the HP Z27n G2 isn’t as sharp as a 4K screen, but this monitor is cheaper, and it’s just as color accurate as our top pick. It also has a nearly identical adjustable stand, three-year warranty, and dead-pixel policy, and it will work great with older computers or apps that can’t scale to 4K. Its USB-C ports don’t put out enough power to charge a laptop, and its default sRGB color preset has image-retention problems, but its Neutral color preset doesn’t have the same issues and is more than accurate enough for most people.

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The research

Why you should trust us

Andrew Cunningham spent more than six years testing, reviewing, and otherwise writing about PCs, Macs, and other gadgets for AnandTech and Ars Technica. He has been building, upgrading, and fixing PCs for more than 15 years, and he spent five of those years in IT departments buying and repairing laptops and desktops as well as helping people buy the best tech for their needs.

Our monitor guides benefit from the expert advice of Wirecutter senior staff writer Chris Heinonen—AnandTech’s former monitor guru and the guy a number of other reviewers go to for display-testing advice. He helped us figure out the best hardware and software to use for our testing, and he designed the evaluation process.

Who this is for

If you have room for it on your desk, a 27-inch monitor is an ideal size. If you use lots of apps at once and have good eyesight, a 27-inch monitor fits a lot more information than smaller screens do. If you have poor eyesight, you can scale up the size of text and images and still have a usable amount of desktop space.

Most people buying a new monitor for a computer or graphics card made in 2015 or later should buy a 4K monitor. They make text and images look much sharper, they’re not much more expensive than their non-4K counterparts, they’re much easier to set up and use than before, and operating systems and applications have (mostly) adapted to scale up to the higher resolution. Our full guide to 4K monitors has even more picks for people who need larger, smaller, or higher-resolution screens.

If you have an older computer that doesn’t support DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 2.0, or if you rely on one or more apps that you know don’t scale well on a 4K screen, you should consider a 2560×1440 monitor (also known as a Quad HD or QHD monitor) instead. These monitors aren’t as sharp as 4K screens, but they are often a little cheaper, and it’s still easy to find models with plenty of ports, excellent adjustable stands, and great picture quality.

Neither type of 27-inch monitor is the best fit for everyone. If you don’t have enough space on your desk for a model of this size, one of our 24-inch monitor picks might be better. If you’re a gamer and you want a smoother frame rate and a more responsive screen, we have gaming monitor recommendations for either AMD or Nvidia graphics cards. And if you work with lots of big spreadsheets or databases (or multiple apps side by side) and you don’t want a multi-monitor setup—either because you don’t have the space for them or you want one large, continuous workspace—read our guide to ultrawide monitors.

Resolution: For a 27-inch monitor, 1080p is too low a resolution. The best monitors are 4K; good ones are 2560×1440, also known as Quad HD or QHD.

Ports: HDMI and DisplayPort connections are both requirements for any good monitor. HDMI is one of the most common ports, not just in computers but also in game consoles, media streaming devices, and other electronics. DisplayPort is a similar standard that also allows you to daisy-chain compatible monitors. Great monitors should also include a USB 3.0 hub so you can connect peripherals to your computer while minimizing the number of cables running to a computer sitting under your desk. In our research, we strongly favor monitors with USB-C, but it isn’t a requirement; it allows for the transmission of both data and power over a single cable, which reduces cable clutter on and under your desk.

Color accuracy: Since most people don’t calibrate their monitors, out-of-the-box color accuracy is key. For the best image quality, your monitor should also cover as much of the RGB color gamut as possible; the more gamut coverage a monitor provides, the wider the range of colors it can accurately represent. If you’re doing professional image work on the monitor, we recommend either calibrating it yourself or hiring a professional to do that.

Adjustability: Many people spend hours at a time in front of their monitors; if a monitor can’t be properly aligned for correct posture, your body can pay the price. We prioritize monitors with stands that can tilt, swivel, and pivot; height adjustments are great, too. The most ergonomic option, and a requirement for our picks, is the ability to attach to a monitor arm by way of a VESA mount. Good monitor arms can cost an additional $100 to $200.

Warranty and customer service: A good dead-pixel policy that protects your purchase from bright- and dark-pixel defects is important. Three-year warranties are common (though not universal) among 27-inch monitors. Responsive customer service is important too, in case you run into any problems.

On-screen display: Your monitor’s on-screen display should make it easy to change settings such as brightness, contrast, input, and color preset. The buttons—whether capacitive or physical—should also be easy to use.

We looked through the websites of monitor manufacturers such as Acer, Asus, BenQ, Dell, HP, LG, and ViewSonic and found around 35 QHD models to consider (in addition to the 50 4K models we considered for our 4K monitors guide). We eliminated models that didn’t meet our criteria, weren’t readily available through established retailers, or were significantly more expensive than the other models we considered.

How we tested

Most people don’t change their monitor settings, and even fewer calibrate their displays, so default performance is critical. We worked with Chris Heinonen, Wirecutter AV writer, to test the color accuracy of each monitor’s display using an X-Rite i1Basic Pro and an X-Rite OEM i1Display Pro colorimeter, as well as customized tests in the CalMAN 2017 software calibration suite. The CalMAN tests produce DeltaE 2000 numbers for each screen that show how close the displayed color is to what it’s supposed to be; the lower the number, the better. A DeltaE value under 1.0 is perfect. Under 2.0 is good enough for print-production work, and you wouldn’t notice a difference if you had a perfect reference to compare against. Ratings above 3.0 mean you’d probably see a difference with your naked eye.

Color gamut, or the range of colors that a device can accurately represent, is also important—a monitor can’t be accurate if it can’t display close to 100 percent of the sRGB color gamut, at a minimum—so we used our CalMAN tests to determine how much of the sRGB gamut each monitor’s screen could reproduce. Our numbers don’t go past 100 percent because reporting numbers larger than 100 percent can give the impression of full gamut coverage even if the monitor displays many colors outside the gamut without displaying all the ones inside it.

For each round of tests, we adjusted the monitor’s brightness to 140 cd/m²—a good value for everyday use—and set its contrast as high as it could go without losing white details. We left every other setting at the default value. While we tested for picture quality, we used each of our finalists for a few days to get a feel for their features.

Buying Options

The 4K HP Z27, our pick for the best 4K monitor, is also the best 27-inch monitor for most people because it has accurate colors plus easy ergonomic adjustments that allow you to tilt, swivel, pivot, and adjust the height of the monitor. It also has a wide variety of useful ports, such as USB 3.0 and USB-C. The USB-C port lets you transmit data and video and charge a USB-C laptop at 65 W, all over a single cable. Many of the monitors we tested were about as color-accurate as the Z27 and had similar features, but the USB-C port gave it the edge over the competition. It also has tiny bezels around the side and the top, and it comes with a three-year warranty and dead-pixel policy.

The Z27’s image quality is great. In our tests it had DeltaE values of 2.97 for grayscales, 2.31 for color points, 2.68 for ColorChecker, and 2.42 for its saturation sweep. Those numbers mean that although the monitor isn’t perfectly accurate, you’d need to see it next to a reference photo or a professionally calibrated monitor to tell the difference. It also has a contrast ratio of 1002:1—not the highest contrast ratio of any 4K monitor we tested, but close.

Buying Options

The HP Z27n G2 is neither the most color-accurate QHD monitor we tested nor the cheapest, but it’s definitely the best value you can get for the money. Its color accuracy is pretty good—though you should change its color preset to the Neutral setting, since the default sRGB setting has serious image-quality issues. It has an HDMI port, a DisplayPort, a DVI port, three USB 3.0 Type-A ports, and two USB-C ports, one on its side and one on the back. Its stand is just as adjustable as the one on the Z27, our 4K pick, and the Z27n G2 has the same great three-year warranty and dead-pixel policy as the Z27. Its USB-C ports put out much less power—10 W for the side-mounted port and 15 W for the rear-mounted port—which means that you can’t use them to charge a laptop at full speed. But if you can’t or don’t want to buy a 4K monitor, this is the one to get.

Like the 4K HP Z27, the Z27n G2’s DeltaE 2000 values (for its Neutral preset) landed between 2.0 and 3.0—not perfectly accurate, but so close that you’d need to see the Z27n G2 next to a professionally calibrated monitor to tell the difference. We found its color points at 2.84, its ColorChecker at 2.21, and its saturation sweep at 2.22. If you look at the ColorChecker graph below, you’ll see that things mostly look excellent, with the exception of a handful of orange and yellow shades and one or two darker blues; images with those colors in them may not look quite as accurate as others.

The Z27n G2’s ColorChecker results were mostly excellent, though some yellows, oranges, and blues were a bit less accurate than we’d like to see.

Its grayscale results were even better—gray should always look gray, not tinted with any other color.

The Z27n G2’s grayscale score was 1.99, even better than that of the 4K Z27 (though it’s difficult to tell the difference with your naked eye); as a result, shades of gray on the Z27n G2 should be free of any other color tint. And its 1025:1 contrast ratio is excellent, though all the QHD monitors we tested for this update had contrast ratios of 1000:1 or better. Blacks on any of these monitors will look pretty black.

The stand tilts, swivels, pivots, and adjusts in height, so you can make it comfortable to look at regardless of your desk setup; only a monitor arm (which the Z27n G2 supports) can give you more flexibility. The stand is stable no matter how you adjust the monitor, though the screen can wobble a bit if you bump your desk (this was true of every monitor we tested, and it’s hard to avoid with screens this big).

HP’s standard three-year monitor warranty and dead-pixel policy together make for some of the best coverage you can get with any monitor; HP will replace your screen if it has any bright subpixels, as well as if it has more than four dark or dead subpixels. Dell’s dead-pixel policy covers only bright pixels, while other monitor manufacturers offer short dead-pixel policies or none at all.

The Z27n G2’s controls are on the bottom of the monitor on the right side—not being able to see the buttons sometimes makes it hard to tell which button corresponds to which on-screen control, but the menus let you easily navigate and make adjustments. And you should make at least one change: Switch from the default sRGB color preset to the Neutral preset instead. The sRGB preset on our test unit had visible graininess and significant image-retention issues—faint afterimages would appear on the screen if we left a window open for more than a couple of minutes. The effect looked like burn-in, though the afterimages disappeared and they didn’t seem to do any permanent damage. This problem doesn’t exist when you use the Neutral color preset, which is what we used for our color-accuracy testing, so there’s no good reason not to switch.

The competition

Dell’s U2717D is a QHD monitor that’s a bit more color accurate than the Z27n G2 (when the U2717D is on its sRGB color preset). It also has slim bezels, a fully adjustable stand, a three-year warranty with Dell’s Premium Panel Guarantee dead-pixel policy, conveniently located USB-A ports, and DisplayPort, Mini DisplayPort, and HDMI ports. We recommend the HP Z27n G2 as the best non-4K monitor because it has USB-C ports and costs a bit less, but if it’s out of stock, the U2717D is your next-best choice.

ViewSonic’s VP2771 had by far the best color accuracy of any of the QHD monitors we tested for this update, with an impressive 1109:1 contrast ratio and DeltaE values between 1.0 and 1.5—nearly perfect. It was also the only QHD monitor we tested with a USB-C port that could provide enough power to charge a 13- to 15-inch laptop at or near full speed (according to our 13-inch MacBook Pro, its power output was about 57 W). But color accuracy isn’t everything—the VP2771 comes with a chunky external power brick that takes up extra space on your floor or desk, its three USB-A ports are all located inconveniently on the back of the monitor, and its three-year warranty includes only 30 days of dead-pixel coverage.

Typically it’s also around $100 more expensive than the Z27n G2, which is more than you should spend on a non-4K monitor at this point.

HP’s E273q is just barely cheaper than the Z27n G2, it has color measurements similar to those of our top pick, and it comes with a smaller but still comprehensive selection of ports (one HDMI, one DisplayPort, one USB-C, and two USB 3.0 Type-A). It also has a fully adjustable stand and a good three-year warranty, albeit without the Zero Bright Dots dead-pixel policy. But as on the Z27n G2, its USB-C port can put out only 15 W of power, enough to fast-charge a phone but not enough to power most 13-inch laptops. And when we connected the E273q to a Mac, we had to turn the monitor off and then back on again to get the Mac to recognize it after waking the computer up from sleep.

BenQ’s PD2700Q was the cheapest QHD monitor we tested, but it also has the worst port selection (it lacks USB-C, and its USB-A ports handle only USB 2.0 speeds) plus the biggest, chunkiest bezels. On top of that, it had the least accurate color reproduction in our tests—its 1230:1 contrast ratio was the best of anything we tested, but its DeltaE numbers were all near or above 3.0. The HP Z27n G2 is only a bit more expensive and better in every way.